


and he will be the light (your darkness has longed for)

by itachissharingan



Category: Naruto, Naruto Shippuden, anime - Fandom
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Like 12, M/M, No Smut, dont be scared because of the title pls, it has to do with shika’s jutsu, its just two kids in love, just fluff, maybe some ooc, naruto is oblivious, they are young in this fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-23
Updated: 2020-11-13
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:22:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 11,561
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27163111
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/itachissharingan/pseuds/itachissharingan
Summary: shikamaru was a smart kid. he knew a lot of things. but that didn’t mean he knew just why the hell he had feelings for the bright-eyed, sunshine hair kid.
Relationships: Nara Shikamaru/Uzumaki Naruto, Shikamaru/Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke/Uzumaki Naruto
Comments: 23
Kudos: 171





	1. nun’ left but the sunset

Shikamaru was, as always, laying in his favorite spot, watching the clouds. It calmed him down. He hated stress and ... basically everything that had to do with work. He was more of a dreamer and everyone knew that. And everyone knew better than to interrupt him while he’s cloud watching. The only person he’s ever invited to go with him was Choji. But, to the boy’s surprise, it wasn’t Choji that suddenly sat down next to him. It was Naruto.

His smile was missing and there was something in his eyes, but Shikamaru couldn’t pinpoint what it was. 

“Hey,” he greeted the other, crossing his arms behind his head, while turning his eyes back to the sky.

It took the blond a while to answer, which was already weird enough and then the only answer Shikamaru got was a small, “Hi.”

His eyes switched to the boy sitting next to him again, studying his face carefully to try to read what was going on inside his head. Usually, Shikamaru was good at reading people. They were like open books to him, but Naruto ... Naruto was different. He wasn’t as easy to read. 

The blond had his eyes on the clouds, watching them go by and again, there was something off about Naruto’s eyes. Shikamaru tried to recall every moment he’s spend with the boy to figure out the difference. 

What did his eyes usually look like?  
What was the difference?

He also tried to recall if anything had happened that he was informed about, but there was nothing, so Shikamaru focused on Naruto’s eyes again. 

What a drag, Shikamaru thought as he closed his eyes and imagined Naruto’s usual grin. His blue eyes were always shining, Shikamaru noted, and there was always this determination and hope inside them. All together, Naruto’s eyes were bright and alive. When Shikamaru opened his eyes again, the realization hit him full speed and for some reason, it felt like a hit in the face.

His eyes looked like someone took all his hopes and dreams away. The usual glow was completely gone, there was not one bit of determination left. 

“You alright?” Shikamaru asked, not really sure why. Yeah, they were ... What were they? They were ex classmates? Friends? He really didn’t know. 

The blond’s head snapped to the side and he looked down at the other boy like he was caught doing something illegal, and in a matter of seconds, the Naruto smile was back on his face. But Shikamaru wasn’t fooled this time. His smile could be as wide and childlike as he wanted, his eyes stayed the same. 

Shikamaru sighted, as his eyes returned to the sky, “If you don’t wanna talk about what’s wrong, just tell me instead of showing me that fake smile.”

“W-What?” Shikamaru wanted to look at the other boy, but he kept his eyes on the sky, that was slowly turning dark. 

“Why are you always smiling anyways?” Shikamaru asked. He genuinely wanted to know. For him personally, smiling was such a drag. Why would he try to smile if there was nothing to smile about? Hell, even smiling when he had a reason to was exhausting enough already. How did Naruto do it? 

Shikamaru saw, from the corner of his eye, that Naruto was fidgeting with the zipper of his hoodie, eyes now on the ground and he raised an eyebrow, but waited patiently for an answer. 

Finally, the blond began to speak, “I ... I just think if I don’t smile people will think I’m scary again, you know?” 

Shikamaru’s eyes widened slightly, not enough for Naruto to notice though and the boy wasn’t looking anyway. People will think I’m scary again, Shikamaru thought but only let out another sigh. It took him a while to think of an answer, and honestly, he was never good at comforting people or whatever. He thought it was annoying. He didn’t even know why he started this conversation in the first place, “I don’t understand much about you, Naruto. You’re like the first puzzle I can’t solve and it’s annoying the shit out of me. But ... let me tell you something. I’m the last person that would ever judge you, mostly because I don’t care about a lot of things. You came here for a reason. So, go ahead and do whatever you came here for. I won’t stop  
you. I won’t bother you. Hell, I don’t even have to look at you. Wanna cry? Do it. Just do it quietly.” 

“N-No! I’m not gonna cry!” Naruto said, louder than necessary which made Shikamaru scoff, as he closed his eyes. 

“What a drag. I’m just telling you that you don’t have to pretend around me. I hate people that pretend.”

Naruto stayed quiet, his eyes watching the sky turn dark. The silence wasn’t uncomfortable though. It was more like a .. much needed break for Naruto. 

After, maybe 30 minutes, Shikamaru turned around to look at the blond, “I never thought Naruto could be so quiet.”

That was a lie, but he wanted to fix the puzzle that was Naruto Uzumaki so his mind could stop spinning and shouting at him. Shikamaru already thought way too much and he’s been thinking about Naruto way too much too, so seeing this side of the blond wasn’t really helping him at all. At this point, Shikamaru wished that Naruto would just start crying or yelling, or throwing punches, so he could do something and stop his mind from worrying. It was annoying him to death, that this bright-eyed kid with the sunshine hair and toothy grins had gotten under his skin. Why him? Why not, literally, anyone else?

“Being loud is tiring, so I have my moments,” Naruto moved his hand to scratch his hair, while smiling softly and accidentally touched Shikamaru’s arm, still resting under his head.

And it felt like another hit in the face. Because he knew what he was feeling and he knew these feelings shouldn’t be there. It was Naruto. Naruto. His skin wasn’t supposed to burn where Naruto touched him. He wasn’t supposed to want to hold his hand. He just wasn’t. It’s not that Shikamaru didn’t know his sexuality, he figured he was bi like a year ago. 

(And yes, it may or may not have had something to do with Neji.) 

His parents reacted good too. He told his mother immediately after he had put two and two together, and she just hugged him and told him that she didn’t care as long as he was happy. As much as Shikamaru hated to admit it, he was scared shitless of telling his father. He couldn’t calculate how his dad would react, but surprisingly, when he came up to his dad and told him they’d have to talk, his dad smiled and said “I already know.” And that was that. 

It was the fact that this was Naruto. He and Naruto couldn’t be more different. They had absolutely no common interests. 

Shikamaru mumbled “How annoying”, before looking at Naruto, who had his head slightly tilted while looking at him questioning. The boy shook his head. 

“Aren’t you tired of always being nice? Don’t you wanna go crazy?” Shikamara asked, now staring at the blond without hesitation. It was dark now, so there were no clouds to see anymore, but they were definitely still there because there were no stars to look at either. 

This time, it was Naruto who let out a sigh, “Yes.”


	2. the universe inside of you

Naruto was, as always, completely oblivious. Not that Shikamaru had been dropping hints, no. Shikamaru wasn’t the type to drop hints. If he’d tell him, he’d tell him straight up. Dropping hints was too troublesome. 

But did Naruto love him? Sure, Naruto liked to spend time with Shikamaru, but it was Naruto he was talking about. The kid liked to spend time with everyone, he even befriended his enemies. 

And the second thought that had been preoccupying Shikamaru’s mind was: Why would Naruto think about the question “do I love him” in the first place. The boy was sure that the blond would never understand what he was feeling unless someone beat it into him. 

That was another thing he’d noticed. Naruto had a nasty habit of ignoring his own feelings. Which wasn’t healthy, for one and two, wouldn’t really make Shikamaru’s situation easier. Not that Shikamaru was the emotional type. But he, at least, knew what he was feeling when he was feeling it and he knew how to deal with what he was feeling, most the time. And, usually, his conclusion was locking himself in his room and sleeping it off or thinking about it so much that his thoughts drift off to very complex thoughts about the human life and reincarnation. It was easy for Shikamaru to distract himself, because he had a lot of things he could think about. 

But, no matter how long he slept or how many times he tried to let his thoughts wander away from the blond boy, nothing would work. Or, it would, for a second and then there was this bright image in his brain of Naruto’s smile, a fist held out for Shikamaru to bump. 

As much as he absolutely hated it, he even tried training to get him off his mind. Wouldn’t work, of course, because he could imagine Naruto standing next to him and training with that determination in his eyes all too well. 

Nothing he did was working. So, he was walking to his favorite spot to watch the clouds and try to sort out his thoughts. But when he arrived, he saw someone already sitting there. 

How fucking annoying, he thought and was ready to turn around and find a different spot, when he saw blond sunshine hair that could not belong to anyone other than the problem itself. Shikamaru let out a loud sigh, before shoving his hands into the pockets of his pants, walking up the stairs and onto the roof. 

Naruto was laying on the ground, his arms crossed behind his head, his eyes, still without the glow, staring at the sky. Sadly, not that many clouds were visible today but Shikamaru didn’t mind that. As long as there was at least one cloud in the sky, he didn’t care much. 

“I see you’re back,” Shikamaru simply said as he laid down next to the boy. Naruto had been so lost in his thoughts that Shikamaru’s voice made him flinch a little, his muscles tensed up but relaxed right after he figured out who interrupted his thinking. 

The blond nodded, shooting the other a smile. It wasn’t a fake one, but it wasn’t the typical Naruto grin either. It was something in between, but Shikamaru was happy enough about the fact that it wasn’t fake. Naruto seemed to be in a better condition than he was a couple days ago. 

“So, are you feeling better now?” Shikamaru asked, his eyes glued to the clouds. 

He felt Naruto shrug more than he saw it and it made his gaze rest on the blond’s face for a while, searching for a hint to what might’ve happened to make Naruto feel like this. He couldn’t find anything. But since Shikamara had asked before and he didn’t respond, he didn’t wanna push the issue. That was, until he heard the boy sigh and sit up straight, drawing his knees close to his chest. 

“Can I tell you something?” the blond said and Shikamaru nodded, slowly pushing himself back up so he was sitting next to Naruto, rather than lazily laying there while his friend (?) was telling him something that might be important. 

He looked at Naruto, waiting for him to start talking. Shikamaru noticed that he was fidgeting around with his hands again and he pressed his own flat against the asphalt to prevent himself from reaching over and taking Naruto’s hands in his. 

“I don’t know if you’ve heard from Sakura or something, but Sasuke and I had a fight,” the boy explained, his gaze drifting to the clouds again. 

Shikamaru really wanted to be able to give the blond some comfort in form of squeezing his hand, but he knew he couldn’t. Shikamaru wasn’t aware of the fact that Sasuke and Naruto had a fight, but he didn’t really see the issue either. They fought a lot. Practically everytime he had seen them they were all up in each other faces, shouting insults. 

“Not a fight like usual. A real fight. A serious one, Shikamaru. He went at me with his Chidori,” the boy continued. Shikamaru’s eyes widened. 

Okay, he wasn’t expecting that. Sure, the Uchiha and Naruto never really seemed to get along, but Shikamaru always thought that they were friends after all. This  
didn’t sound like a fight between two friends. 

“I tried to use my Rasengan. You get it now? Kakashi sensei stopped us before we were close enough to actually hurt one another. And I don’t understand it. Yeah, I’ve been wanting to fight Sasuke ever since I met him, but...”

Shikamaru nodded, “But you didn’t want a fight like that.” 

The blond shifted his gaze to look at the boy, “I wanted a real fight. A fight between rivals. But this- this was different. It felt different.”

Shikamaru looked at the sky again, letting out another sigh. He thought about what Naruto had told him for a while. It felt different. Maybe Sasuke was getting annoyed about the fact that Naruto has been getting stronger and stronger. Maybe he wanted to see if he could beat Naruto and got mad when he realized that Naruto is now on the same level as him, Shikamaru thought, but he didn’t say any of it. 

Shikamaru wasn’t someone that comforted people and now he’s been stuck in a situation like this two fucking times and he was absolutely helpless, especially because he didn’t know what Naruto needed when being comforted. Like Choji? Easy. Give him some snacks and a pat on the shoulder and he’ll be fine. But Naruto? Of course, Shikamaru could assume and say physical contact would be key, because Naruto was probably touch starved like hell considering his childhood. But it wasn’t worth trying. And Shikamaru wasn’t big on physical contact. He didn’t hate it, but he wasn’t the type that just went and hugged people when he felt like it. But he also couldn’t just ask the boy what he wanted from Shikamaru right now. That would sound rude as fuck, first off and secondly, it was weird to ask. 

Apparently, Shikamaru had been quiet for too long because the blond shifted uncomfortably in his seat, before saying, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to- to annoy you with this. I just- you are the only one that isn’t annoying me at the moment and I thought, you know, we were friends. So I just started talking without even-“

He couldn’t stop himself anymore. Naruto’s eyes looked so sad and he just had to test his theory. But instead of taking the boy’s hand, he decided to lift his arm and let his hand fall softly onto Naruto’s head, messing his hair up a little bit. Shikamaru was glancing at the blond’s face to see the reaction to the contact and more or less surprisingly, Naruto closed his eyes for a second and let out a tiny sigh, his body relaxing a little bit. The big effect such a small touch had on the boy made Shikamaru’s lips curve into a soft smile as he continued to ruffle his hair. 

If something small like this makes him relax so much, if I hugged him, he’d probably break down completely, Shikamaru thought, hand still buried in blond hair. 

“You don’t have to be sorry for anything. I asked, after all. And trust me, I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t wanna know,” Shikamaru said, awkwardly taking his hand out of Naruto’s hair and letting it rest in between them. 

Shikamaru also noticed that he’d never seen Naruto so unsure of himself. The boy had never apologized for anything he said before, or, at least never while Shikamaru was there. He always thought that Naruto handled his past incredibly well, but maybe he wasn’t doing so well, after all. 

“I don’t know what happened to Sasuke. He’s not himself anymore,” Naruto said. 

As much as he wanted to help the blond, to say some comforting words like “It’ll get better!”, he couldn’t. He had no idea what happened to Sasuke and he didn’t wanna lie to Naruto either. So, he asked, “Have you tried aksing him what’s wrong?”

It was a stupid question, but Shikamaru was helpless. He also didn’t think that Sasuke would answer if Naruto had asked.

“I had no time to ask. He was fine before the fight with Gaara. And I was visiting him in the hospital when he suddenly just asked me to fight him. I haven’t seen him  
since.”

Shikamaru nodded, “Maybe he just needs some time, you know?”

Naruto nodded, but it really didn’t look like he was convinced. And hell, Shikamaru wasn’t even sure he was convinced. 

If he was being honest, he never liked the Ushiha. And he didn’t have much of a problem with the fact that the boy was leaving Naruto alone. But, Sasuke was, after all, Naruto’s friend. And Shikamaru just wanted Naruto to be happy again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay ,,,, thanks for reading <3  
> anyway as i said, i have a couple chapters already written, so expect them pretty quickly after one another. i’ll try to make sure that i have like 1 chapter done before publishing one


	3. leave your past and come back home

Sasuke left the village, bring him back home.

It was a clear order from Tsunade, but Shikamaru honestly wasn’t sure that it was a good idea to bring Naruto along. Yeah, the boy was eager to get his friend back home, but Shikamaru was pretty sure that Naruto was way too emotionally involved to be professional. 

Okay, Naruto was barely ever professional. But when it came to it, Naruto would usually listen anyway, even if he hated it. Shikamaru wasn’t sure the blond would listen this time though. 

He thought the moment they would catch Sasuke, the blond would explode, but he never saw. 

All he knew was that the mission had failed. He was happy that everyone was okay, but that didn’t necessarily make him feel any better about the fact that he had failed his team. 

He had visited everyone in the hospital except for Naruto and was now standing in front of the door to the room the blond was in. He hesitated, before shaking his head and opening the door. 

“Hey,” he said as he sat down on Naruto’s bed. 

Naruto looked at Shikamaru and the look in his eyes was even worse than a couple of days ago. He looked ... broken. More broken than before. 

“Hey,” was the answer he got. The blond’s eyes looked at his own hands, he was grabbing the blanket in his hands tightly. 

Shikamaru watched him for a while, his eyes soft. “How are you?” 

It was a weird question to ask someone in a hospital bed how they were, but Shikamaru knew that Naruto understood what he meant. And obviously, he wasn’t talking about the blond’s bandaged body. 

Naruto was looking down at his hands and for a moment, Shikamaru thought to catch a familiar glimmer in his eyes. He was almost sure that Naruto would start crying any second and it was needless to say that Shikamaru was panicking. Yeah, he figured out that physical affection helped the boy but that didn’t mean that Shikamaru was ready to comfort a crying Naruto. 

When the blond looked up, his ryes were wet but there were no tears, “I ... I broke my promise.”

Shikamaru always knew that keeping his promises was one of the most important things to Naruto. The boy never went back on his words and he did, in fact, keep all the promises he made. At least he kept all of them up until now. 

“Listen, Naruto. This isn’t your fault.”

The blond’s head shot up, “How can you say that? You were all helping me, you all risked your lifes for me and I couldn’t- I couldn’t do it. Not only did I break my promise, but I also failed all of you.”

“Hey, listen to me. This wasn’t your fault. If anything, it was mine,” Shikamaru said, looking out the hospital window. 

“I don’t blame you.”

Shikamaru’s gaze returned to the blond, who had calmed down a little bit and was now looking out of the window, “Well, you shouldn’t blame yourself either. And from the looks of it, you gave it your best, Naruto. Don’t beat yourself up over this.”

“But my best wasn’t enough,” Naruto replied, his eyes not leaving the sky and Shikamaru sighted and rubbed his eyes, preparing himself to tell Naruto over and over again that this was not his fault when the door opened and Sakura stepped in the room.

Honestly, Shikamaru was annoyed about the fact that she was there. He wished she’d leave them alone so he could comfort the blond some more, but apparently she wasn’t leaving, because she walked towards the window. 

“Sakura ... I’m sorre I couldn’t keep my promise. But, don’t worry! I’ll definitely get Sasuke back!” Naruto said and Shikamara got up. He couldn’t stand watching the blond torture himself with these feelings of having to keep a promise he knew he probably couldn’t keep. He really didn’t wanna see Naruto break himself for other people anymore, but that probably would never stop. 

“Anyways, I’ll be leaving now. Bye Naruto,” Shikamaru said, gave Sakura a small nod, shoved his hands into the pockets of his pants and walked out of the room, leaving the two alone. 

On one hand, Shikamara could’ve waited until Sakura left and talked to Naruto some more, on the other hand he couldn’t take the way Naruto talked to Sakura. He knew that the blond wasn’t feeling good and he hated that fake smile he plastered on his face. It was a crumpled copy of the Naruto grin that Shikamaru remembered all the time. 

Shikamaru had watched and studied the Naruto grin so many times that he could easily tell when Naruto’s smile wasn’t real. After all, it was the only thing he was able to think about for a while. Everytime he closed his eyes the image of Naruto popped into his head. Bright eyes, sunshine hair, a toothy grin and a fist held out for Shikamaru to bump. It was a memory he honestly didn’t know he had until it randomly crossed his mind. 

So that copy that had been on his face moments ago made Shikamaru mad somehow. Hr wanted to yell at Naruto to stop ignoring how he was feeling, to finally talk to him, to talk to anyone and to stop trying to please everyone. But he knew he couldn’t just do that and Shikamaru also had the theory that yelling at the blond would just make him feel worse about it all and that wasn’t his intention. He wanted him to feel better, not worse. 

What a fucking drag being in love is, Shikamaru thought as he walked down the streets of Konoha. He absolutely hated stress and work, but apparently being in love was both. The fact that Naruto didn’t know about it made it even worse, because Shikamaru now also had to think about how and when he would tell the boy that he felt something more for him than just friendship. Plus, he didn’t even know if Naruto liked boys. Sure, he could guess and assume but that wouldn’t get him anywhere. There was no way to know unless he either asked Naruto himself, or someone that would know. The last option kinda crossed itself out since Shikamaru was sure that Kakashi wouldn’t know, Sasuke wasn’t there (and Shikamaru wasn’t sure if he’d know) and Sakura for sure had no clue. Sakura would probably know Naruto better than him though, so he technically could ask her, but it was honestly too much trouble and it’d end up being for nothing. 

Actually, the fact that it was Naruto made it worse too. Naruto had absolutely no common sense and if he did, he sure didn’t show much of it. Naruto acted on impulses a lot, while Shikamaru liked to actually think about things before doing them. And also, Naruto was oblivious. Even if Shikamaru would drop hints, the blond wouldn’t get any of them. Hinata had been after Naruto for a while now, it was completely obvious to everyone else that she had a huge crush on him, but Naruto? That idiot had no idea. 

Why him? Shikamaru asked himself. He didn’t even know when it happened. Sure, there were a lot of moments where Naruto had genuinely surprised him, but ... when had Naruto gotten under his skin so much?


	4. you’ll be okay, i promise

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ngl this is probably my least fav chapter that i’ve written for this story so far. also, if there are grammar mistakes, please excuse them english isn’t my first language 
> 
> but whatever, i hope you enjoy this chapter and thanks for all the likes!! 
> 
> comments are always appreciated <3

Shikamara finally figured it out. Or, at least he thought he did. While he was walking home from traning yesterday, he walked past the playground that he used to play at. Or, more like, the playground that they all used to play at. It was dark when he walked home yesterday and he couldn’t see much of it, but now that he was sitting on one of the swings in daylight, he remembered it exactly.

He also remembered that, as a kid, he used to think about this moment a lot. 

They were all playing, Shikamaru was sitting on the slide while Naruto was swinging. It had been pretty late already and while the blond kid seemed to have fun, his mood darkened as the kids started to get picked up by their parents. Naruto had jumped from the swing and was running towards two kids that were holding their parent’s hands. He was smiling and waving at them. Shikamaru was too far away, as he was still sitting on the slide, to understand what the mother from one of the kids had said, but he could see the way they looked at Naruto. And they all looked at the kid like they were disgusted by him, they looked at him like they hated him. Back then, Shikamaru didn’t understand that though. But he noticed Naruto’s shoulders had slumped and he was looking at the ground now. 

That was the first moment Shikamaru saw Naruto. Of course, he’d seen Naruto lots of times, but that was the first time he looked at the blond and saw him. 

And Shikamaru was now almost 100% sure that that had been the moment Naruto Uzumaki had first seeped through his veins. And now he couldn’t get him out. 

Honestly, when they were kids, he didn’t do much with Naruto. He wouldn’t even have called him a friend back them. Yeah, he had skipped school a couple times with him and they did have fun together, but it wasn’t like they were friends. He thought Naruto was annoying, too loud and unrealistic. He wanted to become Hokage, but had no skills to back his dream up with. 

The first time Naruto had actually impressed Shikamaru was at the exams. When he saw him fight against Kiba, he honestly didn’t want to believe that that was Naruto. When he first saw that these two had to fight against each other, he honestly believed that the blond had no chance. Kiba was a strong opponent. And after Naruto had actually won the fight, Shikamaru started thinking. 

Had he been underestimating Naruto all this time? Did Naruto just pretend to be incapable of doing anything right? Or did the blond actually change that much in just a couple of months? 

It was hard to believe that he had changes that much in a couple of months. But on the other hand, Kakashi was their teacher. Shikamaru had heard a lot about him and he knew that Kakashi was incredibly good. So, after thinking about that, he watched the two other team members of team 7 very closely. It was no surprise that Sasuke was good, he always had been. But apparently, Sakura changed too. Maybe not as much as Naruto, but she had changed a little bit. So was it just that? Or was there something else to it?

It was very unlikely that the blond had been just pretending to be a good for nothing. Why risk not passing the exams? He wanted to become Hokage, so that made no sense to Shikamaru. But it was also very unlikely for Shikamaru to underestimate someone. He usually knew how good someone was, how much potential they had and when he would better back out from a fight because he had no chance. He was good at knowing thosr things, so why did Naruto confuse him so much?

He never thought that the person to make him think this much would be the dumbest kid in his class. The one, that seemingly never thought about anything. It was almost unfair.

He wanted to live a normal life, have an average looking wife, two kids and a house. He wanted peace and quiet. 

“Guess it’s time to throw that plan out of the window,” Shikamaru mumbled to himself. 

What would he end up with now? It was either a loud, overly energetic boyfriend or ... nothing. 

That realization hit him hard, because right now, it was either Naruto or nothing. He genuinely couldn’t think of anyone else by his side. Shikamaru wasn’t stupid and he knew that, if Naruto happened to be uninterested, his feelings for him would, at some point, fade away. But he didn’t and couldn’t know how long that would take or how much it would hurt him. And to be honest, he didn’t really wanna find out either. 

His future wasn’t his biggest problem right now though. It was how do I fucking tell Naruto Uzumaki that I’m in love with him. 

He had thought about that question a lot in the past few days but came to absolutely no answer. He thought about just straight up telling him, writing him a letter, telling someone else first and see how they react but it all ended up with a scenario in Shikamaru’s head that had a bad outcome. 

The only “plan” that somehow made sense was to hang out with the blond more, maybe asking him over and doing things with him. It was troublesome but it was the only way that would maybe work. Maybe he could figure out if Naruto liked him back by just hanging out with him more and watching how he reacted to certain things. 

The chances were low. Even lower because he didn’t know if Naruto was into boys but he had no choice but to try. All he could do was try and hope. 

So, on his way home, Shikamaru made a stop at Naruto’s place. He felt pretty weird knocking on the blond’s door, considering he had never been over at the place nor were Naruto and him actually close enough to just randomly knock on each other’s front doors, but what else could he do. Plus, he was pretty sure Naruto wouldn’t think of it as weird. 

When the boy opened the door, he was still wearing his pajamas and Shikamaru had to bite his lip to hide the smile when he saw the hat. It looked way too cute. 

“Oh, Shikamaru. What are you doing here?” Naruto asked. 

He honestly didn’t have a good excuse so he went with the easiest way, “I was just passing by to go home and I was wondering if you wanted to go get ramen together?”

Yeah, their first date would be a ramen date. Shikamaru couldn’t believe it himself, but if he made a big deal out of it, like going to a restaurant, Naruto would’ve probably noticed that something was off. The boy maybe didn’t notice as much as he should, but Shikamaru was sure that even Naruto knew that going to a restaurant either meant business or date. And he didn’t wanna be that obvious. Plus, Naruto loved ramen anyway and he didn’t know it was a date.

The look of surprise on the blond’s face was almost immediately washed away by excitement, “Sure! When do you wanna go?”

Shikamaru was happy to see that he was at least excited. He didn’t know if it was because of him or the ramen though. 

“How about tomorrow? I’ll pick you up at 6?”

Naruto smiled and Shikamaru could’ve sworn his heart stopped for a second right then and there. He got used to the fake smile Naruto had been wearing by now and he almost forgot how bright the real one was. It made Shikamaru’s chest feel tight and his stomach turn, all while making him feel so refreshed. It was weird. 

“Yeah, that’s fine with me. Do you wanna come in?” Naruto asked and Shikamaru wanted to come in, but he knew he had to be home for lunch, so he shook his head. 

He thought he saw disappointment in Naruto’s eyes, but it might’ve been his mind playing tricks on him.

“Sorry, I have to be home for lunch. See you tomorrow,” he waved as the boy nodded and closed the door. 

I just got myself a date with sunshine boy, Shikamaru thought, as he started walking to his place.


	5. longing with nothing to long for

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the outlines for this chapter were a mESS
> 
> im sorry this chapter sucks lmao 😔

Shikamaru decided that he hated dates the moment he was standing in front of his closet. He usually didn’t care what outfit he was wearing. Carefully picking out clothes was too stressful so he usually just threw on whatever he saw first. But this, this was different.

After a short while with a lot of whining and sighs, he decided to just wear casual clothes. They were just going to Ichiraku, it was not that big of a deal. Plus, if he went to Naruto’s, dressed all fancy, the boy would definitely know that something was up. 

Shikamaru looked at himself and shrugged, before grabbing his wallet and walking out of his room. His mother was standing in the kitchen, looking at him like she knew what was happening.

“Don’t tell me you have a date,” she said, raising an eyebrow at her son. 

Of course she’d think that. Shikamaru usually wore his ninja outfit all day every day, so it only made sense that his mother was suspecting something. But still, Shikamaru thought about denying it for a second. 

The look his mother gave him was enough to make him give in though. He scratched his head and gave her a slow nod. 

“With who?”

The boy rolled his eyes, “Naruto.”

His mother gave him a very surprised look, but only nodded. Shikamaru wondered what she was thinking about that, but he shrugged it off and left the house.

While he was walking down the streets, he remembered the way the villagers had treated Naruto as a kid. They either bullied him, called him a monster and beat him up or they were scared shitless. They wouldn’t even go near the kid. Even the teachers just acted as if he wasn’t there. Shikamaru always wondered why.

Sure, Naruto was a troublemaker and he seemed to be a little stupid, but he was a funny kid. If he was being honest, he wanted to ask the blond about it, but Shikamaru knew that asking him about it would probably bring back memories and even though the boy had no idea about dates or love, he knew that THAT would most definitely ruin the date. 

He didn’t wanna make Naruto upset, he wanted to make him happy. That’s why he invited him in the first place. 

When Shikamaru knocked on the boy’s door, it took Naruto a while to answer and Shikamaru honesty got scared for a second, thinking that the blond might’ve forgotten they were supposed to go out today. 

But a few minutes later, Naruto opened the door. He greated Shikamaru with a smile, not a fake one, not the grin that the boy loved so much. But ... at least it was a smile.

The walk to Ichiraku was quiet, but Naruto didn’t look upset at all. He looked, well, maybe not happy, but ... content. Like he was enjoying the situation.

It made Shikamaru happy that the blond, at least, didn’t look as broken as he did in the hospital. He was really hoping that things would get better for Naruto soon. Shikamaru wasn’t dumb and he knew that getting Sasuke back would be hard, especially after the fight the two of them had, but maybe there were other ways for Naruto to find back to happiness. 

“So, what do you wanna eat?” 

Naruto just smiled and shook his head, “Don’t worry about it. Hey, I’ll just have the usual!”

The man smiled at the blond and nodded, then turned around to Shikamaru. 

“I’ll have what Naruto’s having,” he simply said. 

“Sure thing, boys.”

Shikamaru seemed to have been too happy, because the moment Naruto’s food was placed in front of him, his face became all sad again. His eyes stayed on the table, as of there was something incredibly interesting to see. Shikamaru immediately knew that something was going on. This was Naruto’s favorite place, his favorite food and he hadn’t already finished the first bowl? 

“You’re thinking about Sasuke again, aren’t you?” Shikamaru asked and Naruto looked over at the other boy. 

He nodded, “I’m sorry.” 

“You don’t have to be sorry.”

But, the truth was, Sasuke was starting to get really on Shikamaru’s nerves. 

Naruto deserved someone better. Sure, Shikamaru knew that these two were never in a relationship, but the blond really saw the Uchiha as his best friend. Even after everything he’d done, after betraying the village, after leaving just for some power ... Naruto still loved him just the same. And it was unfair, at least in Shikamaru’s eyes. Naruto had so much love for all the wrong people, so just how much love did this boy have for the right people? 

Of course, the sunshine kid had never been taught the right kind of love, at least that was what Shikamaru was thinking. He had no parents, no siblings and no friends growing up. So just who in the world could’ve showed this kid the right love? No one. Yeah, Iruka sensei accepted him and was there for him, but that was it. And maybe, Shikamaru thought, it was already too late then. 

Naruto had experienced so much bad in his life, he never had anyone and maybe that was why he was holding onto Sasuke so tight. Obviously he was terrified of losing his first friend. And Shikamaru would do anything to get Sasuke back. Not for the Uchiha, but for Naruto. Because, apparently, the blond needed Sasuke by his side. 

That didn’t mean Shikamaru wasn’t pissed off at Sasuke. Yeah, he never liked him, but now he was getting angry. Because just when Naruto had finally made some friends, this idiot decided that it was a good idea to leave. 

But it wasn’t only that. Shikamaru thought that Naruto’s mind was so full of Sasuke that there was no space for him. He probably didn’t even cross Naruto’s mind once.

The boy took a glance at the blond, watching his sad eyes and sighted. He’d make sure to show him the right kind of love. But for now, he’d try to get his mind off the Uchiha. 

“Hey, Naruto. You know, I’ve been thinking about something. Do you wanna go on a mission with me? We could go ask Tsunade for one, after we’ve finished eating,” Shikamaru said. 

Naruto’s head spun around fast, watching the other with wide open eyes, “Really?! We could go on a mission together?!”

Shikamaru laughed and nodded and apparently that did the job, because the blond was now eating at an inhuman speed, shoving bite after bite into his mouth. Shikamaru just shook his head and smiled at him as he began eating.

After Naruto had finished his bowl, Shikamaru looked at him and raised an eyebrow, “Want another one?”

“No! I want a mission!” the blond said and the other boy smiled, watching Naruto’s eyes shine. He looked like a little kid on christmas. So he nodded, put some money on the counter and got up. The blond almost jumped out of his seat, almost knocking down the chair while doing so. 

The walk to Tsunade’s office was everything but quiet. Naruto went into a lengthy description of what kind of mission he thinks they would get, who would join them on the mission, what they would have to do and that he’d do hist best. 

Shikamaru simply smiled and listened to the blond ramble until they were standing in front of Tsunade’s door. 

He was trying to hold Naruto back, but before he could even react, he had ripped open the door, making his presence known to everyone in the room. Shikamaru wanted to hit himself in the head, he should’ve been expecting Naruto to get way too excited. 

But that wasn’t what shocked him so much. Shikamaru and Naruto had heard the last thing that Kakashi had said. 

“Itachi’s here.”

Everyone in the room had gone completely quiet now. They were staring at the blond, who was standing in the middle of the room, shaking. Shikamaru noticed Naruto’s hands clenched to fists. He reached out his hand, he wanted to pull the other out of there so he could talk to him and calm him down before he did something stupid, but Naruto had already turned around and was running to the exit of the building. 

“Fuck,” Shikamaru mumbled while running after the boy. 

“Naruto, wait! Don’t do anything dumb!” he yelled and the blond stopped and turned around, looking at his friend.

“Don’t try to stop me,” the boy said.

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow as he watched the red chakra form around the boy. He didn’t know what exactly this was, he’d never seen this kind of chakra before, but he didn’t care much either. And all that mattered to him right now was to stop Naruto from doing something that would get him killed. 

As his shadows crept to the blond, Shikamaru said, “You need to calm down. If you run out there now and find him, what are you gonna do?”

“Fight him,” Naruto replied as Shikamaru’s shadows wrapped around the boy’s body. 

He gave a weak smirk, “Oh yeah? And just how exactly are you gonna do that?”

The blond didn’t even try to respond, he wanted to get out if there as soon as possible and that’s when he noticed that he couldn’t move. He gave Shikamaru a glare, “Let me go.”

“Naruto, use your brain! If you kill Itachi, do you really think Sasuke will come back? This isn’t your fight.”

That seemed to work. The red chakra around the boy started to disappear, “You’re right, Shika.”

Since the boy had calmed down, Shikamaru let his shadows snap back, freeing the boy. He took a couple steps until he was right in front of Naruto and ruffled his hair again. Shikamaru would never show it, but he liked the sound of that nickname when it came out of Naruto’s mouth. 

And, Naruto, well Naruto had spend his whole life being told he was a monster. So it was only natural that at one point, he started to believe it too. Even though he fought so hard against these negative thoughts, they had always somehow crept up into his mind again. He always thought that, once he started freaking out, no one would ever be able to stop him. He was always scared that once he’d lose control, he’d be lost forever. But Shikamaru was able to hold him back so easily. And if Naruto was being really really honest, he liked the feeling of Shikamaru’s shadows around him. It made him feel safe. 

“So, you still wanna go on a mission with me?” Shikamaru asked, taking his hand out of Naruto’s hair. 

The blond looked up at him, a slight blush on his cheeks and nodded, “Of course!” 

Thank god, Shikamaru thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for all the positive feedback, likes and comments i’ve gotten so far! <3 it really keeps me motivated :))  
> i’m sorry i’m taking so long to upload but school just started again for me and ugh- y’all !!!   
> thanks for reading tho  
> hope you liked it  
> see you next time heh


	6. “it gets better” - no it doesn’t

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ahhh i’m sorry this took forever and that it’s so bad 
> 
> i’ve been lacking at school and i have to catch up lmao 
> 
> BUT !! i made outlines for the scene where shika tells naruto his feelings hehehehe idk when it’ll happen, but at least i roughly know HOW it’ll happen. 
> 
> also i’m sorry that there isn’t a lot of naruto/shikamaru interaction in this chapter 😔 but don’t worry, the next one’s will have EVEN MORE interactions between them 
> 
> thank you for reading, for the likes & comments <3

“What do you want, Shikamaru?” Tsunade asked tghe boy standing in front of her. 

“Can I have a mission?” he asked. The woman looked at him for a second, before nodding. 

“Sure. Let me just see what I have here,” she replied and Shikamaru nodded, before adding something. 

“I wanna take Naruto with me.” 

Tsunade’s eyes snapped up from the paper she was reading and she immediately shook her head, “After he tried running off like that? I can’t let him simply go on a mission, Shikamaru.” 

Shikamaru scratched his head, “I promise him I’d get us a mission, so he’s coming with me.”

“Then you both aren’t going,” she said and raised an eyebrow at the boy. 

Fuck, Shikamaru thought. He knew this wouldn’t be easy, he knew it’d take a lot of convincing but if it kept going like this, she would never let Naruto go. 

“Listen, this is important for Naruto. Please just let him go on a mission,” he tried. 

“Is it important for him or for you?”

Shikamaru thought about it for a while. Was he being selfish? Did he really do this do simply help Naruto? Or did he just want the blond to forget Sasuke? He was putting Naruto in danger and he knew it, but he also knew that he could hold him back. He’d be able to take care of Naruto and he knew that. But despite all of that, he couldn’t help but feel like he was being selfish. 

“For both of us. Please, Tsunade.”

Tsunade looked at the boy in front of her for a while. Of course he noticed the pleading look in his eyes, she saw the unspoken words and feelings. But no matter how much she _wanted_ to let the two go, she knew she couldn’t, “It’s too dangerous, Shikamaru. I can’t risk that.”

”I can take care of Naruto. And if he tries to run off to find Itachi, I can stop him. I’ve done it before, I’ll be able to do it again. Don’t you think it’d be good for Naruto to get out of here? To get his thoughts away from Sasuke? You know as well as I do that if Naruto doesn’t have something, anything, to do soon, he’ll run off by himself to find Sasuke,” Shikamaru said. 

It wasn’t a lie. He really thought that was what the blond would be going to do soon. Of course he would’ve never let him go, at least not alone. But maybe, just maybe, this would be enough to make Tsunade let Naruto go. Apparently it wasn’t. 

Shikamaru saw the look in her eyes. She was thinking about it. She really was, but ... nothing, “I know you’re not stupid and I get what you’re saying. But the risk is too high.”

And that was the moment that _something_ in the boy’s eyes changed. It was clearly visible to the older woman, but what was she supposed to do? She didn’t even wanna imagine what would happen if Naruto ran into Itachi ... 

Shikamaru, on the other hand, knew that he had to get them a mission. He’d promised Naruto and he wouldn’t be able to stand the disappointment in the blond’s usually bright eyes if he’d show up at his door with the news that they didn’t have a mission.   
  


The boy tried it with logical, with reasons but nothing worked. So he did the only thing he could think of and got on one knee. Tsunade stared at him, eyes wide. Just _how far_ would Shikamaru go, just so Naruto could get a mission? 

“Please. See, I’m begging and everything. I’ll be _with him_ , the whole time. I won’t let him go off by himself, not even to pee. I’ll be there, right by his side. I promised him, Lady Tsunade,” Shikamaru said, eyes locked on the ground.

He hated this, he really did. He wanted nothing more than to jump up and run away, but he knew that he couldn’t. Not this time. He’d already gone this far, there was no backing out now.   
  


Tsunade moved her hand in a gesture for him to get up and shot him another weird look. She was slowly but surely starting to catch on, “Why are you suddenly so eager to help Naruto? If I remember what I’ve been told, you’ve never had a lot to do with him.”

Shikamaru got up, more than happy to get out of the incredibly embarrassing situation and looked at the woman in front of him. How much should he tell her? 

“Just let me help him. I’d be able to hold him back. _I promise_ I’ll take care of him.” 

Nothing, he shouldn’t tell her anything. Now was not the time and Shikamaru didn’t even really know the Lady.   
  


Tsunade locked eyes with the boy in front of her, they stared at each other for maybe a minute, before she decided to give in, “You’re annoying me, but fine. Take him with you. If something happens, I’ll hold you responsible, Shikamaru. I hope you know that. _And_ I will send Kakashi after you. He’ll keep himself hidden, but if something happens, he will interfere.” 

Shikamaru couldn’t care less about anything she said now. The only thing that was in his mind was the face Naruto would make. Naruto would smile at him again, he would finally get another real smile from the blond boy. That was all that mattered right now. Everything else he could figure out later. 

The mission ended up being something quite simple, a D-Rank mission, but even that didn’t matter to Shikamaru. They would have to protect some people, travelers. Apparently they had some important stuff with them. Shikamaru always liked the easy missions better either way, they weren’t as much trouble as the hard ones.   
  


But, of course, the boy didn’t miss the way Tsunade looked at him. He knew that she had figured something out, maybe she even figured _him_ out, but even that didn’t matter now. He got them a mission. Finally.   
  


“If it’s so dangerous, why let them go in the first place?” Kakashi asked the blonde woman in front of him.   
  
He’d been called in for a mission, not knowing that this _mission_ would be to follow Shikamaru and Naruto. Now that he knew, he was even more confused.   
  


“Shikamaru’s in love, Kakashi,” the woman simply said and went back to going through the papers on her desk, missing the face Kakashi made at her.

What? What did that have to do with anything? What did a teenage crush have to do with letting them go on a mission, in such a dangerous time? 

“What? With who? What does that have to do with anything, Tsunade?” Kakashi asked. 

She turned around again, a tired look in her eyes. She knew she had made a mistake. She knew she shouldn’t have let them go. She knew all of it. But she also knew what it felt like to be in love. She knew the way you’d do _anything_ , just to see the person happy. She remembered Shikamaru as a lazy guy. Really smart, but lazy. No interest in anything. And seeing someone like Shikamaru beg for something made her realize just _how_ bad this boy had it for the blond.   
  


“He’s in love with Naruto. You should’ve seen him. He was begging me for this mission. I gave them a D-Rank. But there’s still a chance something will happen. I believe Shikamaru would be able to hold Naruto back, but ... please, just go after them. Step in if something’s wrong.” 

“Oh ... alright.” 

Even Kakashi knew what this meant. Kakashi had seen things like that happen. Iruka doing stupid shit just to make him laugh. Sure, he’d never begged anyone for anything, at least Kakashi hoped he hadn’t, but he got it. He got what this meant for Shikamaru. He just wasn’t so sure Naruto knew. 

Meanwhile, Shikamaru knocked on the sunshine’s front door. It was pretty late, but considering therr was a light burning, Naruto probably was still awake. And he wasn’t wrong, a couple seconds later the blond opened his door. 

“Oh. Shika? What are you doing here?” Naruto scratched his nack with one hand and Shikamaru realized that the blond hair was still wet. Had he interrupted Naruto’s shower? 

He shook his head and with a smile on his face, he said, “I got us a mission, Naru.” 


	7. as long as it takes you

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> me: never been in love
> 
> also me: writes a love story
> 
> is this how love works??? i- do people in love actually do this??? send help

“Invite him over for dinner,” was the first thing Shikamaru’s mother said to him when she saw him walk into the living room. The smile he’d been wearing immediately washed off his face.

The whole walk back home, the boy couldn’t stop smiling. He kept replaying the way Naruto had jumped up and down in excitement at the news that they had a mission. For the first time in a long time, the blond seemed truly happy. Shikamaru had to admit, he was proud of himself.

“What?” he asked, clutching the paper Tsunade had given him in his hands. He barely glanced at it, he was too focused on Naruto to even think about reading it. Nothing important seemed to be on there either, just some more informations about the mission. When did it start, where they would have to go and so on. 

His mother stared at him for a second, “The boy. You should invite him over some time.”

“Why?” 

“Well, he seems to make you happy. And if that’s the case, I’d be happy to meet him,” his mother replied, smiling at her son. 

Shikamaru knew that his parents had never treated Naruto the way the other villagers had. They never told him not to play with him, they never told him not to get involved with the blond. He wasn’t expecting his mother to be against it, but he was expecting a long conversation about Naruto. The last thing he thought would happen, was his mother simply accepting it. Sure, she couldn’t have changed it either way and Shikamaru knew that his mother wasn’t stupid, but still. 

The boy thought about it for a while. If he invited Naruto to dinner at his house, what would the blond think? Shikamaru pushed the thought away quickly as he remembered that Naruto had no clue whatsoever, “Okay, I will. I’ll leave for a mission with him soon, I’ll ask him then.”

He turned around to walk to his room, when he heard his mother’s voice again, “A mission? When are you leaving?” 

Shikamaru took a quick look at the paper in his hands, “Tomorrow.”

He waited for a response, but there was none, so he left the living room. 

In his room, he placed the paper on his desk, before sitting down and taking the time to actually read it. Just as he thought, nothing incredibly interesting was on there. Basic information, not any more than you would need to have a small understanding of the situation. There couldn’t be much to it anyway, they would simply have to protect some travelers and that was it. It would take 3 days, so they’d be back on Saturday. 

Shikamaru couldn’t help but smile. He would get to soend three days with Naruto, without anyone disturbing them. Yeah, they had a mission, but he would still get the blond alone. It was, after all, just a D-Rank, so he’d at least have time to talk to Naruto. To make sure he was fine, that he was happy. That he wasn’t going to run off any second to find Itachi or Sasuke. 

He didn’t understand how Sasuke was able to just leave. Naruto would’ve given anything for the Uchiha, Shikamaru could see it in his eyes everytime Naruto talked about him. So, how the hell was Sasuke able to leave when he had those blue eyes staring up at him every single day? 

Sure, Shikamaru knew that Naruto could be a hand full and he also knew that Sasuke wasn’t used to the kind of love that the blond gave. Naruto’s love was sacrificial, a love without any limits. Sasuke was a great example for that: he had left the village, left Naruto behind and the boy still chased after him like the Uchiha didn’t leave the village because he simply wanted to. 

It made Shikamaru wonder. 

Just what on earth was more important than seeing the blond’s smile every single day? He didn’t know anymore. He was sure he’d known at one point, before any of this. But he forgot. In his mind and his heart, there was only place for so much. 

He also didn’t understand just when the hell he had become like this. Naruto’s happiness had become his one and only priority. Suddenly, it was okay for him to be miserable all his life if it just meant Naruto was happy. 

Shikamaru slammed his head on his desk a little too hard, he really had to stop thinking about the blond that much. He was sure this couldn’t be healthy. To distract himself, he decided to start packing his bag for the next few days. 

Well, packing maybe wasn’t the right word. All he did was throw everything he thought he needed in there, before closing his door and turning the light off. 

Surprisingly, unlike the other nights, he fell asleep pretty fast. He was used to not being able to fall asleep quickly now, he worried too much. Before, that wasn’t really a problem. He had always thought about a lot of things, but he loved sleep. Sleeping used to be so easy. It had become pretty hard these days. 

He worried about how Naruto was, what he was doing, if he was sleeping well, if the boy had eaten anything other than ramen today. If he was really honest, maybe he thought about if Naruto was thinking about him too. 

But this night, Shikamaru was happy. Naruto was happy. 

When he woke up, the sun was always shining and for a moment he wondered if he had slept too long. A quick glanze at the clock on his wall calmed him down though. Of course he hadn’t. He didn’t have much time left to get ready, but Shikamaru didn’t need much time for that. He quickly brushed his teeth, got dressed and stuffed his mouth with breakfast, before grabbing his bag and throwing it over his shoulder. 

“I’m leaving, mom,” Shikamaru yelled from the front door. 

It took a while for a response, “Alright! Remember to invite Naruto.”

“Yeah yeah,” Shikamaru mumbled and rolled his eyes, as he closed the front door. 

The walk to Naruto’s place was quick. There wasn’t much on his mind except the fact that he’d get to spend some time with him. He knew he left Naruto happy yesterday, so he didn’t have to worry as much. 

He didn’t even have to knock, because the blond seemed just as excited. He was already standing in front of his door, backpack on his back. He waved at Shikamaru and smiled, “Shika! Hey!” 

Shikamaru gave him a smile back and rubbed his neck, “Hey. You ready?”

Naruto gave him a quick nod, “Of course I am!” 

“Alright then. Let’s go,” Shikamaru said and the blond grinned and put his fist up in the air, looking at the boy in front of him. 

Shikamaru didn’t think twice before raising his own hand and bumping Naruto’s fist. 

“Let’s go!” the blond yelled and started running. Shikamaru just laughed and walked after him, much slower. No matter how much he loved this kid, he would not start running if he didn’t have to. 

The people they were supposed to be meeting with were already at the gate when the two boys arrived. And the moment Shikamaru and Naruto stood in front of them, Shikamaru frowned. He somehow didn’t have a good feeling about these guys. Especially considering the fact that they looked much more like people others would need protection from, instead of people that needed to be protected. 

“They send us two kids? Is that all you’ve got? This has to be a joke. How would you be able to protect us?” one of the men asked. Shikamaru was sure Tsunade had told him the names, he’d just forgotten and he couldn’t find it in himself to he polite enough to ask either. 

“Hey, you-“ Shikamaru put a hand on the blond’s shoulder, stopping him from yelling out whatever insult he had on his lips. 

“If you’re able to be picky about who protects you, why did you ask for protection in the first place? You seem to be able to handle yourself pretty well. Why come here?” Shikamaru asked, watching the men. He absolutely didn’t like them. 

The taller one, the one who’d been quiet until now, shifted uncomfortably, but didn’t say anything. Shikamaru simply raised an eyebrow, “I guess it’s settled then. Let’s go.”

“No! I want to talk to your boss!” the other yelled, again.

“My ... boss?” 

The man nodded, pointing to his face and making weird gestures, “You know, the woman with the ... uh, the ... you know!” 

Shikamaru looked at the grown man in front of him, confusion written all over his face. What was he trying to tell him? Why was he making these weird movements? 

Naruto, on the other hand, started laughing, “You look so stupid!”

Shikamaru kept himself from chuckling, because Naruto was right and decided to answer the man, “No, I don’t know what you’re trying to tell me. However, I do know who you’re talking about. Good luck with that, by the way. She was the one who gave us this mission.” 

“Just let it go, hm? They seem to be knowing what they’re doing. Otherwise they probably wouldn’t be allowed to help us,” the other man said. 

Finally, the guy stopped making weird gestures with his hands and sighted. He glared at Naruto, but turned around and started walking, without saying anything else.


	8. i can’t describe this feeling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> one more chapter because i feel bad for the long wait a couple weeks ago <3 this is a lil shorter than usual hehe :) anyways i’m really motivated to write a lot these days so yeah !!

They had been walking for quite some time and it had slowly gotten darker and darker. Now it was pitch black, Shikamaru couldn’t see where he was walking and they were in the middle of the forest. Naruto had already made several requests about how they should take a break, set up a camp and rest, but they kept denying it, saying that they had to be quick. Shikamaru was slowly starting to get annoyed by the whole situation. 

“Come on, guys! Let’s take a break! I can’t even see where I’m going!” Naruto yelled, for probably the tenth time. 

“No! Shut up now! We won’t say yes just because you keep asking every five minutes!” the man yelled. 

Shikamaru thought about trapping them with his shadows for a while, but quickly shook his head. He couldn’t do that, “I agree with Naruto. It’s too dark and we can’t even tell if we’re still on the right path. A break wouldn’t be too bad. As soon as the sun is up again, we can start walking. This is too dangerous.” 

Surprisingly, this time the smaller one of the two man answered the boy. Shikamaru and Naruto had tried introducing themselves and had asked for their names, but the tall man just said that it didn’t matter and that they didn’t have to know. And that was that. 

“I know this isn’t good, but we really don’t have another choice. Naruto and Shikamaru, right? Should I explain to you why we can’t simply stop here?” 

“Yes!” Naruto yelled, from somewhere pretty close next to Shikamaru. “Ouch!” 

The three males stopped walking and all turned around to see what was going on, if they were being attacked, but they couldn’t see anything. 

“Naruto? Are you okay?” Shikamaru asked. 

It took a while for the blond to respond, “No! I stumbled over something. It feels weird. I thought it was you for a second, Shika!” 

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow, “Huh? What do you mean, you thought it was me?”

“Well, uhm ... it feels like a human? I guess. My head hurts! Can someone please help me up?” 

And that was the moment it hit Shikamaru. It felt human? Like, a human body? What was going on here? 

Shikamaru stretched out his hand into the dark, “If you tell me where you are, I’ll help you up, Naruto.” 

“I’m here!” the blond yelled and Shikamaru sighted and rolled his eyes, but couldn’t help but smile at the cuteness of this boy. He really was like a little kid, but Shikamaru couldn’t seem to care anymore. 

Before it had annoyed him, but now? Shikamaru kind of understood. Naruto didn’t really have an enjoyable childhood, so maybe that’s why he was much more childish than the others. And if that was the case, and even if it wasn’t, Shikamaru would be glad to accept everything Naruto has to offer. Even how childish he was. 

Before Shikamaru could keep thinking about it, a hand grabbed his and he flinched, “What the-“

“It’s me, don’t worry,” Naruto laughed and the other boy let out a small breath that he’d been holding. He really didn’t want to think about what would’ve happened if this was someone else grabbing his hand. “Hey, can you check if I’m bleeding? I’d do it myself but ... you know, I can’t really see.”

“Neither can anyone else here. Let’s get moving again,” the tall man said and Shikamaru was ready to explode. Naruto might be hurt, maybe even seriously hurt and this guy didn’t care at all. He just wanted them to finish this mission and finish it quick. Shikamaru was almost sure that if one of them would get hurt, he wouldn’t think twice before leaving the person behind. 

“No. We won’t get moving. We are taking a break. Right now,” Shikamaru said. 

“We’re not!” 

Naruto was still holding Shikamaru’s hand, for whatever reason and the blond was surprised when he felt the other boy grab his hand tighter. He didn’t know what that meant, but he absolutely didn’t hate how it felt.

“Yes we are. If you don’t want to, you can go by yourselves,” Shikamaru replied and Naruto widened his eyes. 

But, this was their mission! They couldn’t just let them go on their own! Then they would fail, “Shika, we can’t-“ 

“No, Naru. You might be hurt and I’m not walking another single step as long as I haven’t made sure that you’re okay,” the boy said and looked at where he thought the blond was standing. 

“I heal very fast! I promise, I’ll be okay. I really don’t wanna fail this mission. Please, Shika?” Naruto asked, moving his head so that his face was right in front of Shikamaru’s. 

The boy only stared into Naruto’s blue eyes and, once again, couldn’t believe how clear and blue they were. They really looked like the sky. Maybe that was why Shikamaru liked the blond’s eyes so much. But he couldn’t give in to him now. He could be seriously hurt. Sure, he knew that Naruto healed fast, he always had. But that didn’t mean that it didn’t hurt, or that it couldn’t be serious and he had to check before they kept walking, although he was still kind of clueless as to how to do that. It was dark, the middle of the night probably. He could feel his way around Naruto’s body, but even just the thought of that made Shikamaru freeze. He didn’t wanna make the other boy uncomfortable, he wanted this to be a fun mission, even though it hadn’t been that much fun up until now. 

“I’m sorry, Naruto. But I have to make sure that you’re actually okay,” Shikamaru said, holding himself back from stroking the blond’s cheek. 

“Hey! Shouldn’t you be more worried about us?!” the tall man yelled and Shikamaru rolled his eyes. 

He tried to make out just where the guy was standing, but he could barely tell where he himself was standing, “No. I think you got this all wrong. If you die, or something happens to you, we simply fail the mission. If Naruto dies, that’ll be bad. He’s my partner and I need him. You, on the other hand, I don’t need at all. We’re gonna spend the night here. If you don’t like it, you’re free to leave.” 

Naruto’s body felt weird. He didn’t know what this feeling was and he didn’t know why Shikamaru would say something like that. Surely, he didn’t need Naruto. Shikamaru was smart and strong, so why would he care about him? The blond didn’t know, but he didn’t pull his hand out of Shikamaru’s either. It felt really nice. Like he was safe, like there was someone protecting him. 

The man apparently wanted to say something again, but was interrupted in the middle of his sentence by the other guy, “It’s fine. Leave it. As they said, it’s too dark. They won’t find us here so easily.”

“They? Who are they?”

“That’s none of your business,” the man said and Shikamaru glared at the spot where he thought the guy was standing. He didn’t ask again, though. 

If worse came to worse, Kakashi would still be there to help them.

**Author's Note:**

> sooo first chapter done i’d say  
> i have written about 5 chaptets for this story already, so yess. i dont think i’ll have a posting schedule.   
> i’m also working on another naruto story and i’ve written 3 chapters ??? for that one so maybe look out for that one, if you’re interested :)   
> thanks for reading!  
> bye <3


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